This week on Digital Music Trends it was a pleasure to welcome Darren Hemmings (Founder, strategic digital marketing consultancy Motive Unknown).

We start by discussing Snapchat’s music feature, its potential and the potential headaches it may generate from a licensing point of view.
We also chat about Apple’s quest for a music journalist/editor in London which seems to confirm earlier reports of a curation-centred strategy, MTV’s new Play and Trax apps and other low-cost streaming options, YouTube’s move against channels bypassing its ads network with embedded sponsored spots, the GoFundMe campaign to support the ‘Amen Break’ songwriter and UK Music’s manifesto released ahead of the UK’s general election.

This week on Digital Music Trends it was a pleasure to welcome Lee Knife, the Executive Director at the Digital Media Association (DiMA – digmedia.org) and Emmanuel Legrand, US Editor at Music Week.

On the show we continue the discussion started last week around the “Copyright and the Music Marketplace” released by the US Copyright Office, this time focusing on some of the criticisms brought forward by DiMA.

Emmanuel and I then go on to chat about the news of the week including Zane Lowe’s move to Apple and what that means for the approach to curation of the upcoming iTunes streaming service, songwriters voicing their concerns around royalties in Sweden and elsewhere, Pandora’s new Artist Audio Messaging feature, Vessel’s deal with Universal Music for video exclusives, UMG’s investment to make sure the recording facilities at Abbey Road Studios remain state of the art for decades to come and much more.

We start the show by tackling some of the salient points of the copyright recommendations document released by the US Copyright Office last week. Admittedly, our discussion only covers a tiny portion of what is contained in the 245-page document – any more and the subject would have taken over the show – but hopefully it will serve as a good introduction.

On a related point, we also discuss the Grammy’s newly launched Creators Alliance, which seems to pave the way for a more co-ordinated approach from artists towards getting their voices heard, especially if the recommendations mentioned above were to lead to the drafting of a new bill.

In regards to digital music services, we cover Deezer Elite’s expansion to 150 territories, Rhapsody reaching 2.5 million users and the (denied) rumors of Apple’s Big Machine acquisition, could the Netflix/Amazon model work in the music industry?

Finally, we discuss the Billboard Power List and the issue of diversity in the music industry and Kristelia tells us about a fantastic conference she has been organising entitled “Innovation in the Creation and Distribution of Content” featuring high-profile artists, digital music executives and a fireside chat with the US Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante (more info on http://bit.ly/flatironsip).

We start by discussing Jay-Z’s acquisition of Aspiro, which includes the WiMP and TIDAL streaming services.

We also chat about Spotify’s reported fundraise, Missy Elliott’s Super Bowl comeback, Show.co’s new gating feature, the music industry’s relationship with leaks, Music Tech Fest and the Music Bricks project, SoundCloud’s iPad app and much more.

The first part of the show is devoted to a discussion around Zoe Keating’s blog from last week, which highlighted some important issues on the terms imposed by YouTube on independent artists if they want to continue to monetise their content on the platform.

We also talk about Spotify’s coup in securing a partnership with Sony PlayStation that will see the company scrap its Music Unlimited Service (that never really took off…), the positive and negative aspects of the new Touch Preview feature on iOS, the decline of the Australian music market which registered another 10% drop in 2014, iHeartRadio’s latest numbers and Pandora’s next move, Sly Stone’s royalties lawsuit, transparency in the music industry and much more.

I really hope you enjoy the show, have a great week and ’till next time!